The present invention relates to a fuel injection device according to the definition of the species of the main claim.
Fuel injection devices having a fuel distributor on which a plurality of connection pieces are provided for mounting fuel injectors are known from a series of documents. In general, additional connecting elements are used for secure and possibly rotation-free installation of the fuel injectors in the connection pieces; these connecting elements function as clamps or clasps in the connection area. Such connecting elements include a U-shaped elastic clamp described in German Published Patent Application No. 34 28 597, a C-shaped plastic clip described in German Published Patent Application No. 39 04 479, a U-shaped elastic clamp described in German Published Patent Application No. 39 18 410, another U-shaped elastic clamp described in German Published Patent Application No. 40 17 875, a two-legged locking plastic clip described in German Published Patent Application No. 44 13 914, a U-shaped bracket described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,754, and a U-shaped elastic clamp described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,224. All the above-mentioned fuel injection devices are characterized by the fact that the connecting element engages in a depression of the fuel injector and the connecting element engages a catching element extending radially outward in some form on the connection piece of the fuel distributor.
Furthermore, fuel injection devices in which no additional connecting elements are used in the connection area of the fuel injector and the connecting piece of the fuel distributor are known, with either catch springs (German Patent No. 39 19 231) or catch lugs (German Published Patent Application No. 195 46 441) being provided on the peripheries of the fuel injectors for such fuel injection devices. The snap springs engage a lock collar extending radially outward on the connecting piece of the fuel distributor, while the catch lugs engage in the window-like recesses of the extended connecting piece.
The fuel injection device according to present invention has the advantage that it allows the fuel injectors to be firmly and securely connected in the connecting pieces of the fuel distributors. No additional clamp or latch-type connecting elements are needed to fasten the fuel injectors. In this manner, very simple assembly and disassembly are guaranteed.
In a particularly advantageous manner, the fuel injector can be prevented from rotating using very simple measures in designing the corresponding connecting elements of the connecting piece and the fuel injector. In addition, the desired unique position of the installed injector can be achieved in a very simple manner. For this purpose, only two connecting elements of the connecting piece is designed to have different sizes, for example, which then engage in two corresponding connecting elements of the fuel injector having different sizes.
The fuel injection device is advantageously designed so that the connecting piece presses its connecting elements radially into the corresponding recessed connecting elements under radial stress due to interruptions in the end section of the connecting piece.